USA

WASHINGTON, June 9 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Amphibious assault ship USS Boxer and French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle recently conducted a joint drill as they sailed through the Bay of Bengal, the U.S. Navy said Sunday.

French anti-submarine destroyer Latouche Treville, anti-submarine frigate Provence and underway replenishment tanker Marne joined the drill Friday, which included formation sailing, combined flight operations and personnel transfers, the statement said.

Washington, June 10 (AFP) The photo of Donald Trump and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron planting an oak tree in the garden of the White House symbolized the friendship shown by the two leaders.

But relations between them have since frayed -- over issues ranging from Iran to trade -- and the tree, a diplomatic source said this week, did not survive.

NEW YORK, Jun 09 (APP): US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi has criticized President Donald Trump’s policy toward neighbouring Mexico after the White House agreed to suspend planned tariffs, saying “threats and temper tantrums are no way to negotiate foreign policy.“

Ms. Pelosi, a leading Democrat, said Trump had undermined America’s global leadership role by “recklessly threatening to impose tariffs on our close friend and neighbour to the south.”

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Joe Biden was not in the banquet hall for the Iowa Democratic Party’s blockbuster fundraiser on Sunday where 19 of his party’s presidential candidates spoke. But he was present in the veiled criticism from several of his rivals.

In five-minute chunks of speaking time, the candidates got the chance to make their case before 1,400 of the most influential Democrats in the leadoff caucus state. Some chose to nudge the national front-runner, and leader in a new Iowa poll, without naming him.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is bragging about a new deal with Mexico that provides for “large” sales of U.S. farm goods, but it doesn’t appear to exist.

In weekend tweets, he announced in all capital letters that he had won the agreement to benefit America’s “great patriot farmers,” and that U.S. sales would begin “immediately.” There isn’t any sign of that happening, however. Mexican officials denied that anything on agriculture was included in the deal on border security reached Friday to avert Trump’s threatened tariffs.

STERLING, Va. (AP) — With his threatened Mexican tariffs now on the backburner, President Donald Trump was looking to claim victory even as some of his Democratic challengers for the White House criticized him for overselling a deal that mostly ramps up existing efforts.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Top Democratic leaders may be in no rush to launch an impeachment inquiry, but the party is launching a series of hearings this week on special counsel Robert Mueller’s report.

The slate of televised sessions on Mueller’s report means a new, intensified focus on the Russia probe and puts it on an investigative “path” — in the words of anti-impeachment Speaker Nancy Pelosi — that some Democrats hope leads to impeachment of President Donald Trump.

Washington, Jun 8; PTI/GANASHAKTI:  The Trump administration has approved the sale of armed drones to India and has offered integrated air and missile defence systems aimed at helping the country boost its military capabilities and protect shared security interests in the strategically important Indo-Pacific region.

The approval-cum-offer from the US came in the aftermath of the February 14 Pulwama terrorist attack in which 40 Indian soldiers were killed and the increasing militarisation and assertiveness of China in the Indo-Pacific ocean.

UNITED NATIONS, Jun 08 (APP): The Caribbean Island nation of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines became the smallest nation ever to secure a seat on the United Nations Security Council when the UN General Assembly on Friday elected five countries to the powerful 15-member body.

The other countries elected were: Estonia, Niger, Tunisia and Vietnam.The five states will take up their seats as non-permanent members of the Security Council in January 2020, replacing Cote d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Kuwait, Peru and Poland.

NEW YORK, Jun 08 (APP): The Trump administration has permitted the construction of US high-tech bomb and missile parts in Saudi Arabia, giving Riyadh unprecedented access to a sensitive weapons technology, The New York Times reported Saturday.

The newspaper said in a dispatch that the White House allowed Raytheon, a US military defence contractor, to “team up” with the Saudis to build and assemble components of Paveway smart bombs in the kingdom.